(Fairy) Wands

This is a project that was really truly a complete joy to work on.  I found the idea here, on 'heartmade'.

I didn't add a pocket to my wands as they do in the tutorial. 

I started making just a few of these for Miss A's 6th birthday....but couldn't stop!  Here's when I knew I was in trouble...

"Oooooo they're so pretty!  And I have so much more felt...and so many more sequins.....I should just cut out a few more....."

And then there were the sticks (dowel rods).  I didn't have any glitter glue so I just combined a bunch of glitter to my Mod Podge and went to town.  It took about 3 coats to get them as sparkly as I wanted them.

And so, I ended up with SEVEN wands.  For 3 little girls.

And then you KNOW Miss A wanted to make a wand.  Since she has decided to be a 'rainbow flower fairy' for Halloween, we made hers a rainbow wand.  She sewed on the sequins and I sewed the layers together.

I did want to say, I loved the idea on the tutorial where they glued a bit of stuffing to the end of the dowel rod to keep it in place inside the star.  That worked great (I used hot glue).  But when I got all the way around the edge of the star, I found it easiest to use a dab of hot glue to keep the ribbons and star firmly in place around the dowel rods.  THEN I finished with the last few stitches to close the star completely around the dowel.  Sometimes I had to sew a few stitches through the hot glue....that's what thimbles are for, people.

Fairy Wings (or Bug Wings, depending...)

I saw this video tutorial on making fairy wings out of wire clothes hangers from Threadbanger recently and figured I'd have a go.  Of course, with three little ladies staying at our house last week.....I had 5 (FIVE!) sets to make.

I ran out of hangers on the last pair so in the middle you can see my little dude got 'bug' wings.  He didn't seem to mind.

Since these are for little kids, I cut each hanger into two pieces and followed the directions from there.  I imagine for an adult you would want the whole hanger for each part, but for kids half the hanger worked perfectly.

Instead of twine to bind the parts together, I used duct tape.  Worked like a charm.

Also, I used knee-highs.  More than enough stocking to go around.

And, it would have been nice to have ordered some different colored knee-highs, but alas Walmart only had the black ones (or tan) the day I was in.

We let the kiddos decorate however they wished.  They LOVED this project.  I now have glitter everywhere.

Teacher Appreciation

Well, once I got the mason jars dyed how I wanted them, the rest of the project was pretty easy!  Using each teacher's favorite color, I hot glued some fabric to the lids and used freezer paper to stencil the teacher's initial on the top. 

A few pretty ribbons on the side...

I got the idea for the appreciation jars here.  I gave each parent in my son's class some strips of paper.  All the kids sent back a note for each teacher, we stuffed the jars with the notes, and the teachers LOVED them.

And what's teacher appreciation day without a few flowers??

Beachy Hat Ribbons

I had a friend come by with a last minute request to attach ribbons to her daughters' beach hats.  Lord knows those hats blow right off in the wind!

It obviously took longer to take the pictures than it did to sew on the ribbon.  I believe the hats were a Target purchase.

I rolled under the raw edge of the ribbon and tacked it down right on the original seam in the hat so you can't even tell it's there from the outside.

Nothing's easier than a taggie

Do you not just LOVE taggie blankets??

A little bit of ribbon, a little bit of fabric, a little bit of crinkle on the inside - and you're in business!



I accrued a whole drawer full of ribbon while putting these together several years ago.  I haven't met a baby yet who didn't love a sweet little taggie!